MEET THE BUYERS: Rijoux at NZFW

Moshe Silberberg’s background is diamond studded as the co-owner and buyer of Rijoux. “Having grown up in a household full of diamonds, fashion, and luxury businesses – my parents influenced my career choices,” explained Silberberg. Silberberg’s father was a diamond dealer and his mother and grandfather were involved in the fashion business for over 40 years in Israel. “I have lived in many parts of the world including Antwerp, Kinshasa, and Panama City.” Currently, Silberberg is based in Israel where he has been running his boutiques in Tel Aviv for the last five years. The stores are well known for luxury goods, jewellery and fashion.

Attending New Zealand Fashion Week this year, Silberberg said he is scouting for interesting brands and designers who he can stock that other stores don’t have. “The major advantage of attending NZFW for buyers is discovering different culture and fashion styles that can’t be found in other places. Also, to get to see a lot of items in a relatively short time. Everything is also conveniently consolidated in one city.”

He will be utilising the trade showroom supplied by NZFW to place future orders, select new collections and buy available stock.

The majority of Rijoux’s customers are the Jewish communities from around the world, locals or tourists. His boutiques are in different locations and each caters to clients of various ages and styles. “Anyone that walks into our store is considered a customer, and I am buying for them all.”

Each fashion week that Silberberg attends is unique. “For example, the Ukrainian fashion week has more feminine designers while the Tbilisi fashion week showcased more street wear and leather accessories. Istanbul has a very cool fashion week, and Milan is famed for the big brands showcasing for the luxury market. Paris fashion week LVMH, KERING, the big money.”

Silberberg evaluates everything when considering a new supplier; from press to social media lifestyle, followers, popularity, the fashion show, and bloggers and models associated with the brand. “Consumers buy what they like; marketing influences customers’ choices.”